Event Details

In conjunction with UCLA Anderson, the Haas Berkeley Alumni Club of Los Angeles is proud to present Hollywood's Digital Gold Rush - How major entertainment companies are expanding into digital and new content brands are being born online.

Come join a group of senior executives at some of the cutting edge media companies who are changing the way that content is produced, distributed and monetized for an evening of networking and thought provoking discussion. Ticket price includes complementary beer, wine, soft drinks and appetizers.

Panelist - Aaron DeBevoise, Machinima:Aaron oversees network programming for Machinima the #1 18-34 male entertainment network on YouTube. As head of programming he is responsible for content development, production, and acquisition across all of Machinima’s varied distribution channels including the #2 YouTube Channel of all time with 3.8 billion views behind only Universal Music . He was responsible for launching the new premium YouTube channel, Machinima Prime, which has been ranked #1 multiple times on Deadline’s Weekly YouTube Channel Rakings List. In addition, he helped secure for Machinima the most viewed YouTube premium episodic series ever with Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, and recently launched the prequel to the famed Battlestar Galactica franchise,Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, in collaboration with SyFy and UCP. Before joining Machinima, Aaron founded and managed a traditional and new media advisory and production firm called North Entertainment, LLC where he Executive Produced and Produced an original portfolio of Direct-to-DVD/TV programming in partnership with Red Bull North America, Lionsgate Entertainment, Starz Entertainment, and Genius Products (the Weinstein Company). Prior to this, Aaron was a Senior Associate for JPMorgan’s Entertainment Industries Group, where hehandled over 20 deals representing financing in excess of $3B for clients including, Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Spyglass Entertainment, 2929 Entertainment, and Anschutz Film Group. Aaron graduated from Williams College, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a B.A. in Economics.

Panelist - Sheree Chang, HuluSheree is responsible for international business development at Hulu where she focuses on expanding the company's presence abroad. Prior to joining Hulu, Sheree worked at McKinsey where she focused on strategy consulting for clients in the media and technology sectors. Sheree holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BA from UCLA. Hulu is an online video service that offers a selection of hit shows, clips, movies and more at Hulu.com, numerous destination sites online, and through their ad-supported subscription service, Hulu Plus. Hulu's selection of premium programming is provided by more than 400 content companies. Founded in March 2007, Hulu is operated independently by a dedicated management team. NBCUniversal, News Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and the Hulu team share in the ownership stake of the company.

Panelist - Richard Cardran, Disney:Richard is a media strategist and technologist recognized as one of the Hollywood Reporter/Producers Guild of America's "Digital 50" top media executives and Streaming Magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People in Streaming."

Richard is an eight-time Emmy Award finalist and two-time Emmy Award winner for "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Television" and "Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology" through his pioneering contributions in digital distribution and the evolution of direct-to consumer media brands.

Richard has spent the majority of his professional career working as an agent of change at the intersection of media and technology and has implemented leading edge strategy and key projects for Microsoft, Intel, AOL, Viacom, Disney, Universal McCann, Real Networks, and Panasonic as well as MTV, TV Land, Bloomberg, ABC, HDNet, Capitol Records, IFILM, and Comedy Central. Additionally, Richard has delivered enterprise digital master planning strategy and core business planning for The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and The American Film Institute (AFI).

Richard spent the 1980s in New York City working as an Art and Creative Director in advertising and later directing and producing film and television projects that won him an International Film and Television Society Mobius Award for Outstanding Creativity. After moving to Los Angeles, Richard began experimenting with new media and Web-based media and in 1998 co-founded Zetools, Inc. successful digital media software, services, and interactive television technology company. In 2006 Richard sold the company which has since become the global advanced media and broadband television unit of Tandberg Television, part of the Ericsson group.

Since leaving Ericsson, Richard has focused on digital master-planning and strategy for arts and media organizations, funding and business planning for media and technology start-ups as well as leading key direct-to-consumer initiatives for a major movie studio. Richard was also the co-chair of the Executive Committee of the IMPG (Interactive Media Peer Group) of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as well as holding a Board of Directors’ seat with the Los Angeles Downtown Arts District.

Richard is a sought after keynote speaker for events by The American Film Institute, Microsoft Mix, Kagan Research, Streaming Media, Digital Hollywood, the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Australia Internet Association, the USC School of Pop and Politics, X|Media|Lab, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and others.

Richard has written various features for trade publications in the digital media space spanning content, technology, strategy, media application and business trends.

Moderator - John Gilles, A Different Engine/ATAS Interactive Emmy's:

John Gilles is the Managing Director of A Different Engine, a full-service digital design agency in San Francisco and Brooklyn, whose clients include Bravo, Showtime and Starz.

Gilles is a longtime interactive TV and digital media veteran, most recently serving as EVP of Interactive TV platform company Coincident, where he led the development of its two-screen platform Screen Sync TV. Previously, he was the GM of Code and Theory's San Francisco studio, where he led engagements including the redesigns of TMZ.com, Tech Crunch and a host of other high-profile digital media projects. Prior to that, he was the global Vice President of Media and Entertainment at San Francisco-based design agency Method, where his clients included the BBC, PBS, Electronic Arts, Samsung and CNN.

Gilles began his career in cross-platform television as a producer of the award-winning MSNBC news show-website hybrid, The Site with Soledad O'Brien. After a tenure as a producer at ZDTV, he became the Director of Interactive Television at Paul Allen-owned TechTV, where he launched the pioneering two-screen service TechTV Hyperactive. He led marketing, branding and product at personal TV startup MeeVee and was the Vice President of Digital Media at Comcast-owned G4TV in Los Angeles, where he managed the cable net's web, games and mobile initiatives.

Gilles is a member of the executive committee of the Interactive Media Peer Group of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Gilles was the creator and executive producer of the award-winning machinima short film "Leaving the Game," produced under the auspices of the American Film Institute's Digital Content Lab, where he served as a creative mentor on several projects. Gilles is the former Vice Chair and current member of the Producers Guild of America's Northwest Chapter, and is on several industry advisory boards.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences around the world, Gilles also is a prolific writer, having been quoted and/or published in Wired, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, USA Today and many other publications.